help!!! need topic for dissertation

[andrea236]

hi

im a final year nursing student and im tryin to do my dissertation but cant decide on a topic. thought about doing the unnecessary use of peripheral venous cannulation but cant find much evidence on it. loads on cannulation, but not much on unnecessary cannulation. any other suggestions would be much appreciated!!!

[llg, PhD, RN]

I'll give you the same suggestion that I give to all students looking for paper topics.

Start by identify the broad, general topics that interest you -- but don't get too specific yet. As you have already discovered, if you get your heart set on a specific topic, you might run into problems not finding sufficient literature to meet the needs of your student project.

After identifying 2 or 3 broad areas of general interst, then browse the literature on those topics. Explore what is available on those topics ... what the specific issues are that have been discussed and researched ... what the burning questions are, etc. It's often best to do that browsing in the library itself, skimming the major journals so that you can quickly skim articles that you wouldn't normally pull on on a computer lit search. (You can cover more territory faster in person than online. Online, you might miss the best article if it doesn't come up with the key word you chose.)

As you browse and skim, narrow those broad general topics of interest down until you have 2 or 3 specific topics/questions to write about. Take those 2 or 3 topics and visualize how you structure your school project if you chose each one. Now that you have a sense of the available literature, that should be relatively easy and quick.

Pick the specific topic that survives this process -- and you'll have a topic that both matches your general interests AND ALSO can be done with the literature available to you. In addition, you will already have gotten a good start on your lit review!

Good luck,

llg

[VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN]

Wonderful advice, llg :)